Category Archives: Presentations

Designing the Urban Microclimate

A framework for a design-decision support tool for the dissemination of knowledge on the urban microclimate to the urban design process

The urban microclimate has a significant impact on people’s physical health. Effects range from discomfort, for example sleep disturbance, to life- threatening conditions, such as heat stroke, skin and lung cancer. It is therefore vital that the urban microclimate is given considerable attention in the urban design process.

The PhD research focuses on the integration and transfer of knowledge from the specialized field of urban microclimatology into the generic field of urban design. Both fields are studied in order to identify crosslinks and reveal gaps. The main research question: How can the design of urban neighbourhoods contribute to microclimates that support physical well-being and what kind of information and form of presentation does the urban designer need in order to make design decisions regarding such urban microclimates?

The result of the research is a framework for a design-decision support tool that is proposed as a means to integrate knowledge of the urban microclimate into the urban design process, enabling urban designers to practice climate-sensitive urban design, and, thus contribute to the physical well-being of people.

A world of acquaintances; how spatial patterns on various scales can form an integrated strategy to facilitate collective efficacy in Beverwaard

Dries Zimmermann

Mentor team: Maurice Harteveld, Machiel van Dorst, Egbert Stolk

My graduation project tries to find a spatial answer to a society shifting from the welfare state towards a participatory society. How can we as planners and designers facilitate participation on various scales?

Design as a mediating instrument

Wen Wen Sun

Mentor team: Maurice Harteveld, Egbert Stolk

‘The thesis addresses a research and a design practice on urban design in the complex urban networks with multiple actors involved via an inspiring Italian case. It is about how urban design performs as a mediating instrument in the process.’

Sport in Public Space.

A reclaimed position for sport- and activity structures in the immediate living environment. A design study for Alkmaar West.

Eva Nicolai

Mentor team: Maurice Harteveld, Akkelies van Nes

Nowadays various Dutch cities have a very programmatic arrangement in which sport and activity structures often are situated at the borders of the city, along highways and railroads, as mono-functional complexes and stand-alone islands enclosed by greenery. The graduation project ‘Sport in Public Space’ is a design research that looks for ways in which sport- and activity structures can be repositioned and integrated into the direct living and working areas of the city.

Living with the others.

Spatial transformations towards liveability of cities of social diversity: the case of the Schilderswijk, The Hague.

Maria Kritsioudi

Mentor team: Birgit Hausleitner, Qu Lei

The present thesis project uses the idea of a clear demarcation between public and private space as the key element to deal with the conflicting social environment of the Schilderswijk, The Hague. The project is approached and illustrated in various scales; from neighborhood scale until the level of the residential entrances. Main aim of the project is to show how a clear territorial structure in a neighborhood scale, enriched by the qualities of diversity of both the urban form and program can increase tolerance among the various ethnic and age groups, cover people’ needs and finally construct a more liveable environment for all.

The main goal of this graduation project – based on the desire to create a resilient urban environment -is to prevent the city of London from flooding, retrench the pressure in existing areas and to reduce the need for the «super sewer». Moreover the phases of transformation from existing space to a new form, function, or facilities are investigated. In this case the aim is to illustrate how adaptable existing urban fabric can be. This adaptive urban fabric contributes to more attractive and vibrant street life, therefore the project makes the city not only resilient, but also an even more interesting place. The adaptive character of urban environment can be best compared with a water park – some elements are used to transport water, others are used to store water, but they work as one system.

From Interspace to Interface: Shaping Public Life

My thesis is about the interrelation of public and private spaces and how the design of those interfaces is influencing people’s behaviour and public life. Oude Noorden in Rotterdam is used as an example to illustrate how not well-used public spaces and nonexistent interfaces between public and private can be changed to transform the area into a livelier neighborhood.

Street Smart: A Social Learning Perspective on the Restructuring of Oud-Charlois
The graduation process Street Smart focuses on the problems prevalent in problem neighbourhoods, particularly those that affect young people. By creating a link between the social sciences and urbanism, this projects aims to create socio-spatial interventions that target both the social and spatial dimension of the problems at play. This approach is illustrated through a practical case study of the neighbourhood of Oud-Charlois. It’s design is specifically focused on supporting children and adolescents, who are not merely target groups but also co-designers of the project.